Muhammad Mokaev isn't happy to see how some of his fellow fighters have been treated by the UFC recentlty.
In the wake of Farid Basharat's UFC release, which many people deemed unfair, Mokaev called out the Las-Vegas based promotion for treating fighters poorly and damaging their reputation with fake narratives. Very much like Basharat, Mokaev was released from the promotion in 2024 while being undefeated and ranked in his division.
UFC CEO Dana White alluded that Mokaev was difficult to work with, and in Basharat's case, White said something similar, claiming that there was "definitely a reason" why Basharat was not re-signed and that it had nothing to do with his fighting style.
On Tuesday, Mokaev accused the UFC of creating false narratives about fighters, which damages their reputation with fans and other potential promoters.
"When fighters are getting phone calls from bosses telling them, 'If you keep wrestling like that, you’re going to get cut,' then you’re basically telling fighters how you want them to fight," Mokaev wrote on X. "At what point does that cross the line? Isn’t that influencing the competition? And if you want to release a fighter, fine. But don’t then publicly say he was 'hard to deal with' or create some bullsh*t narrative about him that could damage his reputation and make other organizations think twice about signing him. Release fighters if you want. Just don’t try to damage their careers on the way out."
when fighters are getting phone calls from bosses telling them, “If you keep wrestling like that, you’re going to get cut,” then you’re basically telling fighters how you want them to fight.
— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) October 20, 2026
At what point does that cross the line? Isn’t that influencing the competition?
And if…
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Muhammad Mokaev: UFC creates 'bullsh*t narrative,' damages fighters' reputations